


Dumb Love

by Voiid_Vagabond (Saturn_the_Almighty)



Category: Minecraft youtube, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Dream Team is a minor pairing lmao, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Hijinks & Shenanigans, M/M, Minor Character(s), Mutual Pining, Pining, Sleepy Boys, That is all, Weddings, idek where i'm going with this, we need more skephalo fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28082133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saturn_the_Almighty/pseuds/Voiid_Vagabond
Summary: ON HIATUSA silence hovers over them for a moment. Bad stands up from the table."You told them I was your boyfriend?" he shrieks, pressing his hands to the side of his face."I DIDN'T MEAN TO, I PANICKED!"
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound/Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Skeppy/Badboyhalo, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 39
Kudos: 415





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> impulsivity and peer pressure (read: my bf wanting skephalo) made me post this, Fs in the chat

Skeppy is standing in Bad's doorway, paper bags in either hand and a pleading look on his face that says  _ I've done something that I know isn't good. _

Bad’s shoulders slump when he recognizes the look. He eyes the bags before he steps aside to let Skeppy into his apartment. It’s not like he was ever  _ not _ gonna let Skeppy in. He's got sandwiches in one bag and family size chips in the other. He sets them down and starts unloading the food quietly. Bad gives him time. They start eating before Skeppy even speaks.

"So. Dream and George are getting married, right?" Skeppy starts conversationally, picking at his sandwich and avoiding Bad's eyes.

"Yeah?" Bad pops another chip into his mouth. It had only been a few months since their engagement and their two friends had spent the majority of their time since then planning the wedding. It was going to be a huge event. Dream wanted it to be ‘unforgettable.’

"And we got invited, right?" Of course they had. Nearly everyone Bad knew had been invited, and many more who he  _ didn’t. _

"Yeah?" Bad answers slowly.

Skeppy pushes away from the table and rocks back on his chair. "They expect me to bring a date since I faked that I had one," he says quickly, almost running the words together. “Remember that?”

"I remember, that wasn't very smart of you." Bad crosses his arms, thinking back to the night that Skeppy had called him and whined about his questionable decisions. It had been a harmless troll, like Skeppy always loved to do. Except that some people had believed him, even when he tried to tell them that it was fake.

Skeppy smiles sheepishly at him. "Anyway. Um. Today we were talking about who we were bringing to the wedding and everyone thinks I’m bringing my fake partner and Techno made a joke and said 'oh, is it Bad?' and I said yeah."

A silence hovers over them for a moment.

Bad stands up from the table.

_ "You told them I was your boyfriend?"  _ he shrieks, pressing his hands to the side of his face.

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO, I PANICKED!" Skeppy barely manages to keep himself from falling backwards out of the chair, but he gets to his feet and scrambles around the table to Bad.

“Skeppy, you shouldn’t lie to people," Bad admonishes. 

“I knowwww, but I…" He sighs, big and long like the sky's falling around him and it's  _ so inconvenient. _

"Everyone else has someone to go with! Techno and Phil are going, they even have dumb matching outfits, Tommy and Tubbo weren’t  _ not _ gonna go together. Wilbur and Niki are going, Fundy and Eret are going together and Quackity and Karl are going to be the funniest people in the room! And I couldn't ask Sapnap if he wanted to come with me to his own boyfriends’ wedding!”

Bad frowns slightly. “Skeppy, all the people you listed  _ aren’t even dating. _ What’s the big deal?” He stares. Skeppy stares back.

“I don’t know. I just feel like if I told everyone that I’m dating someone and then I show up without anyone they’ll make fun of me. Or pity me. I don’t know which is worse.” Skeppy looks away again. It's  _ hard _ to keep eye contact with him.

“You’d rather pretend?” Bad asks softly. There's no judgement. There never is.

“It’s worse because I said it was you. If we go and you say you’re not dating me when I said that we  _ were," _ he glances up at Bad for a second and resists the urge to turn fully around, "then everyone’s going to assume that something terrible happened between us. I don’t want that.” Skeppy mumbles that last bit and Bad's shoulders slump. He steps forward and wraps Skeppy in a warm hug.

“The worst thing you can imagine is people thinking we’re not the  _ best of friends?” _ He wonders.

Skeppy buries his nose in Bad's shirt and nods. “Yeah.”

They stay for a moment, swaying in place and Bad almost starts humming a song before Skeppy pulls away with a small smile and wipes his face quickly with the sleeves of his hoodie.

"I don't have anything fancy enough to wear," Bad says off-handedly. Skeppy perks up.

"You mean… "

Bad nods. "I'll go with you."

Skeppy throws his hands in the air and opens his mouth to shout in triumph before Bad shushes him urgently.

“Noise complaint, Skeppy,” he whispers. Skeppy nods, lowering his hands. Bad doesn’t need another one of those… not that they’ve ever been his fault. What can Skeppy say? He’s a loud guy.

  
  


"Sooooo…" Skeppy glances at Bad out of the corner of his eye, torn between watching the trees pass on the side of the road and watching Bad keep his eyes dutifully on driving.

"So?" Bad prompts.

"What do you want to get? For the wedding, I mean. Like, what do you wanna wear?"

Bad flicks on his indicators and takes an exit, heading towards the high-end mall.

"I'm not sure? I've been to weddings before, but… I have a feeling this one's going to be different," he says. "I don't want to show up in a basic black tux, you know?"

Skeppy nods. "Totally. We should find you something fun."

The mall isn't very packed when they get there and Skeppy grabs Bad's hand and makes a beeline for the one store that he never bothered to remember the name of but he  _ knows _ they have the good suits.

Bad looks around at the rest of the stores they pass, noticing a jewelry store and a few more casual clothing shops before he’s pulled into a much quieter and  _ softer _ feeling area. The insulation of all the fabric around him makes everything silent and Skeppy heads for a desk near the back of the store.

All around are sharp, fashionable suits on mannequins, coiled up ties on display and crisply folded dress shirts of varying pastel and grey tones, shelves of slick, shiny shoes and even cufflinks and undershirts. Bad doesn’t usually shop at places like this, there’s no reason to, and he feels a little out of his depth.

“Excuse me.” Skeppy stops in front of the desk and a man with straight black hair pulled into a half-ponytail glances up from where he’d been typing on a loud keyboard.

“How may I help you?”

“You do tailoring here, right? Because I want him,” Skeppy jabs a thumb behind him at Bad, “to be the hottest person in the room.”  _ Not that he’d need any help with that, _ Skeppy thinks to himself.

“Wh— Skeppy!” Bad stutters, his face lighting up in a beet-red blush.

“What, I’m just being truthful!” Skeppy defends, grinning. Bad flicks his eyes between Skeppy and the man behind the desk, who bites back a smile and asks them to follow him.

They go behind the desk, through a door and into a well-, if a little harshly, lit room with a curved bench and a raised platform. There’s a metal rack with hangers and what looks like a tuxedo jacket with not one, but  _ two _ arms ripped clean off.

Bad eyes the disgraced jacket and sits down next to Skeppy after the desk man runs off somewhere.

“You didn’t have to say that,” he says quietly. Skeppy shrugs.

“I want you to look good. If we’re going together— like,  _ together _ together— I think we should look as hot as possible. Right?” Skeppy looks over at Bad, who pushes his glasses farther up his nose and stares at the two of them across the room in one of the mirrors.

“I suppose so. But we shouldn't try and outdo the marrying couple, that’s just rude.” Skeppy starts to laugh. Bad frowns.

“What’s funny?”

Skeppy takes a second to calm himself down and rests a hand on Bad’s arm.

“I’m sorry, I just… I don’t think we have to  _ try _ to outdo them. Bad, you’re cuter than Dream and George any day. Let’s just hope they brought their A game, because we’re going to be bringing ours.” He squeezes Bad’s arm lightly before letting go and setting more into the bench.

Bad’s still looking at him in the mirror when the tailor comes in, tape measure in hand and a perfect customer service smile on.

“How are we this afternoon?” He asks rhetorically, eyeing Bad as he stands up.

“Good, thank you. How are you?” he returns, trying not to shrink under his scrutinizing gaze.

The tailor wraps and unwraps the tape measure around his hand as he walks around Bad, nodding as he goes. “What are we thinking?” he asks. “What kind of event?”

Skeppy clears his throat and both heads snap over to him.

“It’s for our friend’s wedding, probably the fanciest thing we’ll go to for a while. I want him to  _ impress everyone. _ Maybe some red?” Skeppy looks at Bad. Bad nods enthusiastically.

“Yes, red. Please,” he agrees. The tailor hums loudly and turns back to Bad.

“A wedding… with red… how much? What’s your price range?” Bad opens his mouth to answer but Skeppy beats him to it.

“There isn’t one. I’ll cover it.”

Bad immediately whirls around to gaze wide-eyed at Skeppy, who looks awfully pleased with himself.

“You don’t have to—” Skeppy stands up swiftly and steps between Bad and the tailor, staring right into his eyes.

“I know I don’t,” he explains. “But I really want to. Bad, I want to buy you something nice, okay?” Skeppy says it softly, like he doesn’t want anyone else to hear, and Bad’s paying close enough attention that he can see a blush on Skeppy’s cheeks as he says it.

“Okay,” Bad says, huffing. “Okay, Skeppy, you can buy me a nice suit.” Skeppy beams at him, hopping on his feet.

“This is gonna be awesome, trust me!” Skeppy assures him. “It’ll just be us, pretending to be dating. And we’ll look good doing it! It’ll be fine!”

  
Bad smiles and nods, but he can’t help but feel like this  _ plan _ of Skeppy’s won’t exactly end up… well, fine. And, Bad decides resolutely, he’ll deal with the not-fineness of it when it comes. For now, Skeppy’s happy and he’s getting a fancy new suit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another setup chapter :)
> 
> Also this fic is not a priority as of right now so updates might be sparse. Be patient with me.

The wedding is going to be a week-long event.

They are promised mountain views and lakeside cookouts, cool nights of bonding and warm, bright mornings full of activities. Log cabins and mosquito screened decks, hiking boots and refilling water bottles. Bad is excited. He has a feeling the week will be tiring, but he’s excited. They aren’t required to get dressed up except for the afternoon before their final day, which is when the ceremony will be held.

Dream and George create a text groupchat of their guests and send list after list of packing tips and activity options.

Bad remembers to pack a first aid kit that he can fit into his backpack, a wide-brimmed hat, sunscreen and his water bottle. The rest is mostly clothes, his phone and charger and snacks for the drive over to the airport.

Bad is driving both him and Skeppy so he'll have to leave earlier to drive to his house to pick him up.

It's late in the evening, just after Bad's finished dinner and he's cleaning up so his house can be nice for the dogsitter. He feels a little bad leaving Rat for a week, but he knows she'll be in good care. It'll be fun!

He'll have fun.

He and Skeppy. Pretending to date. For a whole week.

  
  
  
  


Skeppy is up far earlier than he has any reason to be. Almost half an hour to kill until Bad comes to pick him up. He's packed everything, changed twice and had to sacrifice fashion for the sake of comfort on a long plane ride.

And he's scrolled through the guest groupchat for missed messages. It's mostly everyone bullying Fundy and Phil yelling at Wilbur for saying something incredibly out-of-pocket and turning it into a whole bit.

The usual.

He's antsy, eager to see Bad and spend time alone with him on their drive and the plane ride.

Alone with Bad. Skeppy can feel his cheeks heat up at the thought, despite it not even being  _ remotely _ the first time they'd spent time alone. But the thought of doing it now felt different, what with the whole ruse.

Skeppy might perish during a week of pretending Bad's his boyfriend. He isn't sure if it'll be from joy or something else.

The car ride is somehow silent. They don't speak past making sure Bad's going the right way and Skeppy wonders why neither of them have tried to start a conversation.

He only works up the nerve to do so when they're strapped into the plane and taxi-ing down the runway, about to take off.

"Bad?" He starts, adjusting his hoodie behind his head, "should we talk about… boundaries?"

He's not very sure of himself, and it shows in his tone. He  _ knows _ this is something they need to do, because he'd never be able to live with himself if he does something that Bad doesn't like. But he's a little wary about bringing it up so soon. Won't it be super awkward if they finish talking before the plane lifts off and then it's silent all the way there?

"Yeah, okay. I think we should," Bad answers, his voice a comfort as always. "Like, things we don't feel comfortable doing? Because we're pretending?" Skeppy nods. "Yeah. Um, I'll start."

Bad turns a little in his seat and looks at Skeppy. His cheeks are a little red but Skeppy doesn't blame him. The whole situation is a little embarrassing. He looks so pretty.

Bad clears his throat and holds up a fist. He lifts one finger and Skeppy gets ready for a list of things he has to make sure not to do.

"No kissing."

That… is not what he was expecting. But why? It's fake. Bad won't want to kiss him because it isn't a real relationship. They aren't really together. And plus, they're best friends, it might get awkward. Skeppy doesn't even  _ want to kiss—  _ okay, that one's a lie.

Bad continues, leaving Skeppy to pick himself up off the floor and get composed.

"No language," Skeppy almost rolls his eyes at this one, but he keeps it to just a little smirk, "and…" Bad lowers his hand and leans a little closer to Skeppy.

"No drinking without me. I wanna be there if you get drunk or anything happens." He sounds oddly serious about it and Skeppy nods in earnest.

"I promise. I'll do my best," he assures Bad.

"Your turn," Bad says cheerfully and Skeppy draws a blank.

"I— uh… no…" He huffs a breath. "I'm sorry, I can't think of anything," he quietly admits.

"You can do anything with me, I think I'll be okay with it." He thinks about Bad casually wrapping an arm around his waist or hugging him from behind, calling him pet names or running his fingers through Skeppy's hair.

"Really?" Bad asks. His voice sounds so gentle. "Anything?"

Skeppy nods slowly, think maybe that wasn't the right thing to say for some reason.

"It makes me happy knowing you're so comfortable around me," Bad says, warmth filling his words.

"We're gonna do great, Skeppy, this is gonna be fun!" Bad's face lights up when he smiles and Skeppy thinks he could look at it for the rest of his life.

Skeppy naps for most of the flight.

He's shaken awake half an hour before they land and he and Bad talk about what they're most excited for during the week.

Bad won't stop trying to hype up the hike they're planning, despite Skeppy's insistence that he  _ won't _ be going with them.

The only thing he's dazzled by the prospect of, aside from his friends getting married, is the big bonfire the night before the ceremony. It sounds like a lot of fun, swapping stories and burning marshmallows.

The airport is small and not too packed so Bad and Skeppy get their bags quickly and meet with the driver for a car service Dream has ordered for the guests. He said it was better than the taxis and neither of them are about to argue.

The scenery they pass as they head towards the venue is breathtaking. Lush evergreen trees blanketing exaggerated hills and white-capped mountains in the distance. The shapes are enormous and almost daunting but there's beauty above all else. The sky is a striking blue, streaked with cirrus clouds. If this is what he has to look forward to, Skeppy's glad to be here for a whole week.

The actual venue is huge.

There is a wide log building as the centerpiece, two stories and with ornately carved door and window frames, painted white. Double doors lead out to a large wooden front deck with rocking chairs. In front of the deck is a circular driveway and on either side are two smaller cabins, styled much the same. There's scarcely a patch of ground not covered in greenery, from small flowering groundcover to tall, willowy plants.

Skeppy spots hanging lamps that line the driveway, lighting the outdoors around the cabins.

Their driver helps unpack their suitcases and they wave as he drives off. Skeppy doesn't know if they've been assigned cabins or if they'll just  _ go in. _

He doesn't even know if they're the first ones here.

A series of laughs answers for him, coming from behind the big building. Bad shares a look with him before they drop their bags on the deck and hurry around back.

They're greeted by Phil and Techno, who are leaning over the back deck of the big building and watching Wilbur try and escape Tommy and Tubbo, both chasing after him in hopes of snatching his guitar, which is thankfully in a case.

Techno spots them first and raises his chin in silent greeting. Skeppy locks eyes with him. Big mistake.

"Hello," he says. Innocuous.

Skeppy nods to him. "Hey."

"So where's your boyfriend?" Techno steps down from the deck and walks around to meet them. Skeppy puts his arm around Bad, who leans into him.

"He's right here." Honestly, Skeppy can't care less about how defensive he sounds right now.

"Hi," Techno greets blandly. "I thought for sure you were joking," he says, back to Skeppy.

"Nope." Skeppy stares straight at Techno. "Do we have assigned rooms or is it first come first serve?" He deflects.

"Nah, it's a free for all," Phil says, watching them all from the deck. "We picked the one farthest from this house," he nods to the big building, "on the right."

Bad smiles and thanks him, before gently pulling away from Skeppy's arm. "We should go get our things settled. I wanna go see the lake before everyone else gets here," he says.


End file.
